Cara Kempf is a certified personal trainer with the Fitness Zone in Carmel and a group fitness instructor with NIFS in downtown Indianapolis. She can be contacted at fitnessblog@theindychannel.com.

How many of you actually stretch on a regular basis? Four to six times per week, especially before and after a strenuous workout? That's what I thought. My clients can vouch for the fact that I can be pushy when it comes to stretching. Why? Because it is an IMPORTANT, VITAL, part of your overall fitness gains.

For years experts have argued about the type of stretches best for the body, how often one should stretch, and when one should stretch (before or after exercise?). However, experts can agree on some basic guidelines to incorporate into your exercise routine.

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Stretching can be placed into two main categories: active stretching and passive stretching. Active stretching requires muscle contraction through a range of motion. So, you are moving through a stretch while warming up the muscles, instead of holding the stretch for a period of time. Active stretching loads, strengthens, and prepares a muscle for the activity it is about to do, so it is best to actively stretch during warm-up.

Passive stretching requires the muscles to relax into a deeper stretch for a longer period of time. It is slow, gradual, and controlled, so that the muscle can sink into its deepest range of motion without causing injury.

Passive stretching is best accomplished at the end of an activity, when the muscles are warmest, so as to achieve the greatest range of motion.

As you can see, stretching both before and after an activity, in different ways, is important in maintaining good flexibility.

Now, don't think you aren't healthy if you can't reach down and touch your toes on a daily basis. Factors that affect flexibility are age, gender, joint structure, muscle tendon attachments, muscle cross-sectional attachments, body temperature, and pregnancy (ACE, 313) –- did you get all that?

For example, flexibility tends to decline with age because of connective tissue changes within the body. If you continue to be inactive as you age, your flexibility will continue to decline, so keep active!

Also, females are usually more flexible than males, probably because their bodies were designed for greater range of motion (i.e., for childbirth).

Each person has different joint structure, musculature, and genetic composition, so you may not ever be as flexible as that woman in your yoga class that stretches like a rubber band. However, that does not mean that you shouldn't work on your level of flexibility. It is still essential for maintaining an overall healthy body!